Rays Keep Rolling, Beat Red Sox For Seventh Straight Win

posted by Steve Carney -
Aug 25, 2018

ST. PETERSBURG (620 WDAE) -- The Tampa Bay Rays roll continued Saturday, spotting the Boston Red Sox an early run before coming back to score the final five runs of the game, extending the Major League-best winning streak to seven straight games with a 5-1 win over the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field.

After working a perfect first inning, Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough allowed Boston to take the lead in the second as J.D. Martinez doubled to start the inning, taking third on a base hit by Xander Bogaerts and scoring on a double play ground ball by Mitch Moreland.

Tampa Bay drew even in the fourth, as C.J. Cron was hit by a Rick Porcello pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Kiermaier and after Willy Adames struck out for the second out of the inning, scored on a base hit by Brandon Lowe, tying the contest.

Yarbrough worked into the sixth inning, but was relieved by Ryne Stanek after walking Andrew Benintendi to start the inning. Stanek (2-3) got Steve Pearce to play to right field, then picked off Benintendi at first base and struck out Martinez to get out of the inning unscathed.

Tampa Bay broke the tie in the bottom of the inning, as Kiermaier started with a triple off Porcello. Adames was then hit by Porcello, ending the right-hander's night. Ryan Brasier came on to face Brandon Lowe, and uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Kiermaier to come home with the eventual winning run.

Lowe eventually drew a walk from Brasier and Michael Perez moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt, allowing Joey Wendle to give Tampa Bay some breathing room with a sacrifice fly.

Tommy Pham extended the Rays' advantage in the seventh with his 15th home run of the season and his first as a member of the Rays, a solo blast off Brandon Workman, and Ji-Man Choi's RBI triple in the eighth set the score at 5-1.

The victory gets the Rays to a season-best eight games over .500 on the season, while Boston has now dropped five of their last seven contests.